Trust

Trust

People do more for their fellow man than returned favors. They often perform generous acts without the slightest hope for payback. It can be as simple as leaving a tip in a restaurant you will never visit again or more difficult as throwing themselves on a live grenade to save another. In an environment where people may be seeking to make fair weather friends no longer loyal allies, signs of heartfelt loyalty and generosity serve as guarantors of one’s promises reducing the worry that people will default on them. The best way to convince a skeptic that you are trustworthy and generous is to be trustworthy and generous. –Steven Pinker, The blank slate